LABOUR MINISTER Horace Dalley on Tuesday said his Ministry will be expanding the Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT) in anticipation of increased demands for improvement in salaries and benefits, but he has cautioned employees to make realistic demands.
Mr. Dalley said wages, salaries and benefits are going to be one of the most challenging and critical issues in 2006 for the Ministry of Labour. This, as the two-year-old Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which effected a wage freeze in the public sector, will come to an end March 31. He noted that some workers were demanding a 51 per cent increase in salary, which he describes as unrealistic because it is nowhere near the rate of inflation.
"I am optimistic, I know that the team at the Ministry of Labour is capable to deal with competence. The IDT is ready and we will be expanding (it) this year to meet any new demands...," Mr. Dalley said.
(But) "Let me say to the country at large, don't be unreasonable with your demands for higher levels (because) there is a certain level beyond which wages cannot go," Mr. Dalley said.
The Labour Minister was speaking at the the presentation ceremony of the Jamaica Employers' Federation (JEF) 2005 Salaries, Wages and Benefits Survey, held at the Ministry of Labour, North Street offices in Kingston. He told the gathering that the country can absorb only a certain level of wages and salary increases and any enterprise that is seeking to be financially viable can only offer a certain level of increase.
Already the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) and the Police Federation have made their demands for salary increase, pending the end of the MoU on March 31, 2006. The JTA is demanding a 30 per cent increase in the first year and 25 per cent in the second year.
The federation on Monday submitted a 41-point claim for improved wages and benefits.
